High Court commutes death sentence in double murder case, acquits co-accused

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday upheld the conviction of Md. Jahangir Sahaji for murdering his wife and minor son but commuted the death sentence awarded to him by a Barasat court to life imprisonment.

A division bench of Justices Debangsu Basak and Prasenjit Biswas also acquitted co-accused Rowsanara Bibi, mother-in-law of the deceased woman, citing lack of evidence.

The case arose from the deaths of Sanjura Bibi, Jahangir’s second wife, and Imran Sahaji, his six-year-old son from a previous marriage, who sustained fatal burn injuries inside Jahangir’s residence at Ashoknagar, North 24 Parganas, in March 2006, just 19 days after his marriage. According to the prosecution, Jahangir had demanded Rs. 20,000 as dowry and subjected Sanjura to physical assault, a fact she reported to her father Abdul Sattar and a relative. On the night of the incident, neighbours discovered the victims with burn injuries in a closed room reeking of kerosene, alongside an empty barrel. Jahangir, who had suffered minor burns, emerged from the house but fled; he was later admitted to hospital.

The High Court noted that the deaths occurred in secrecy within the matrimonial home, where Jahangir was present. Once such foundational facts were established, the burden lay on him under the Evidence Act to explain the circumstances, the bench observed. His failure to do so, coupled with the medical evidence of ante-mortem burns, selective burning confined to the bed, and absence of any suicide implements, pointed towards homicidal death.

Rejecting the defence argument of accidental or suicidal fire, the judges stressed that the uniform burn injuries on both victims, including the sleeping child, ruled out self-infliction. Jahangir’s conduct in failing to rescue the victims or raise alarm further strengthened the prosecution case.

As for Rowsanara, the court found no evidence linking her to the incident and set aside her conviction. On sentencing, the bench held that the case did not fall in the “rarest of rare” category warranting capital punishment. Jahangir’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, while his conviction for murder and cruelty was affirmed. The court directed that trial court records be returned and urgent certified copies of the

judgment issued.